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{{Short description|Major League Baseball franchise in Oakland, California}}
{{Redirect|A's|the Latin character|A|other uses|AS (disambiguation){{!}}AS|and|A (disambiguation)}}
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{{Infobox MLB
| name = Oakland Athletics<!-- Please DO NOT change to Sacramento or Las Vegas until the club officially relocates to those cities. Thank you. -->
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}}
The '''Oakland Athletics''' (often referred to as the '''Oakland A's''') are an American [[professional baseball]] team based in [[Oakland, California]]. The Athletics compete in [[Major League Baseball]] (MLB) as a member club of the [[American League]] (AL) [[American League West|West Division]]. The team currently plays its home games at the [[Oakland Coliseum]], with plans to temporarily move to [[Sutter Health Park]] in [[West Sacramento, California]], for the 2025–2027 seasons (with an option for the 2028 season), prior to their [[Oakland Athletics relocation to Las Vegas|permanent move]] to [[Las Vegas]].<ref>[https://theathletic.com/5391365/2024/04/04/oakland-athletics-sacramento-ballpark-agreement-2025/ Oakland A’s to play in Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park beginning in 2025 ahead of move to Las Vegas]</ref> The relocation will mark the first move by an MLB team since the [[Montreal Expos]] moved to [[Washington, D.C.]], becoming the [[Washington Nationals]]. The nine [[World Series]] championships, fifteen pennants, and seventeen division titles that the A's have won throughout their history is the second-highest in the American League after the [[New York Yankees]].
One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the team was founded in [[Philadelphia]] in 1901 as the '''[[Philadelphia Athletics]]'''. They won three World Series championships in [[1910 World Series|1910]], [[1911 World Series|1911]], and [[1913 World Series|1913]], and back-to-back titles in [[1929 World Series|1929]] and [[1930 World Series|1930]]. The team's owner and manager for its first 50 years was [[Connie Mack]], and [[National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum|Hall of Fame]] players included [[Chief Bender]], [[Home Run Baker|Frank "Home Run" Baker]], [[Jimmie Foxx]], and [[Lefty Grove]]. The team left Philadelphia for [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] in 1955 and became the '''Kansas City Athletics''' before moving to Oakland in 1968. Nicknamed the "[[Swingin' A's]]", under owner [[Charlie O. Finley]] they won three consecutive World Series in [[1972 World Series|1972]], [[1973 World Series|1973]], and [[1974 World Series|1974]], led by players including [[Vida Blue]], [[Catfish Hunter]], [[Reggie Jackson
Following the [[California Golden Seals]]' relocation to Cleveland in 1976, the [[Golden State Warriors]]' move across the bay to [[San Francisco]] in 2019, and the [[Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas|Oakland Raiders' move to Las Vegas]] in 2020, the Athletics were left as the sole remaining professional sports team in Oakland. However, on April 20, 2023, the Athletics announced they had entered a land purchase agreement with [[Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa|Red Rock Resort]] located near [[Las Vegas, Nevada]] to build a new ballpark on the [[Las Vegas Strip]], finalizing the Athletics' plans to relocate from Oakland to the [[Las Vegas Valley]].<ref name=Stutz>{{Cite web|url=https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/sources-lombardo-lawmakers-on-board-with-planned-1-billion-las-vegas-baseball-stadium|title=Sources: Lombardo, lawmakers on board with planned $1 billion Las Vegas baseball stadium|website=The Nevada Independent|last1=Stutz|first1=Howard|last2=Mueller|first2=Tabitha|date=April 19, 2023|access-date=April 20, 2023|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 20, 2023 |title=Oakland A's close in on move to Las Vegas after signing land deal for stadium |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/apr/20/oakland-athletics-las-vegas-relocation-stadium |access-date=April 20, 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="SF Gate/AP New Stadium">{{Cite web |last=Dubow |first=Josh |date=April 20, 2023 |title=Oakland A's purchase land for new stadium in Las Vegas |url=https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/oakland-a-s-purchase-land-for-new-stadium-in-las-17907772.php |access-date=April 20, 2023 |website=SFGate |agency=Associated Press |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=
From 1901 through the end of 2023, the franchise's overall win–loss record is {{Win–loss record|w=9,260|l=9,766|t=87}} ({{winpct|9260|9766|87}}). Since moving to Oakland in 1968, the Athletics have an overall win–loss record of {{winpct|4,545|4,294|record=y}} through the end of 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=Oakland Athletics Team History & Encyclopedia |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/OAK/ |website=Baseball Reference |publisher=Sports Reference |access-date=October 27, 2020}}</ref>
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{{main|Philadelphia Athletics|History of the Oakland Athletics}}
The history of the Athletics [[Major League Baseball]] franchise spans from 1901 to the present day, having begun in [[Philadelphia]] before moving to [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] in 1955 and then to its home in [[Oakland, California]], in 1968. The A's made their [[San Francisco Bay Area|Bay Area]] debut on Wednesday, April 17, 1968, with a 4–1 loss to the [[Baltimore Orioles]] at the [[Oakland Coliseum|Coliseum]], in front of an opening-night crowd of 50,164.<ref>Boxscore from Baseball-Reference.com [https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK196804170.shtml "Wednesday, April 17, 1968, 7:46PM, Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum"]</ref> With four locations, the A's have had the most homes of any MLB team.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/oakland-athletics-las-vegas-move-history-of-mlb-relocation-expos-senators-pilots-braves-dodgers-giants-orioles/ |language=en-US |publisher=[[CBS News]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |accessdate=May 5, 2024
===Team name and "A" logo===
The Athletics' name originated in the term "Athletic Club" for local gentlemen's clubs—dates to 1860 when an amateur team, the [[Athletic of Philadelphia|Athletic (Club) of Philadelphia]], was formed. The team later turned professional through 1875, becoming a charter member of the [[National League (baseball)|National League]] in 1876, but were expelled from the N.L. after one season. A later version of the Athletics played in the [[American Association (1882–1891)|American Association]] from 1882 to 1891.<ref>{{
The familiar [[blackletter]] "A" is one of the oldest sports logos still in use. An image in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]'' with the rival [[Brooklyn Atlantics]] shows that the "A" appeared on the original Athletics' uniform as early as 1866.<ref>{{Cite web|title=r/ClassicBaseball - Amazing 1866 Harper's Weekly woodcut engraving of the Brooklyn Atlantics and Philadelphia Athletics, from the National Association Of Base Ball Players league.|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicBaseball/comments/3730uy/amazing_1866_harpers_weekly_woodcut_engraving_of/|access-date=August 16, 2021|website=reddit|date=May 24, 2015|language=en-US}}</ref>
===Elephant mascot===
After [[History of the New York Giants (NL)|New York Giants]] manager [[John McGraw]] told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer [[Ben Shibe|Benjamin Shibe]], who owned the controlling interest in the new team, had a "[[white elephant]] on his hands", team manager Connie Mack defiantly adopted the white elephant as the team mascot, and presented McGraw with a stuffed toy elephant at the start of the [[1905 World Series]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Logos and Mascots|url=http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/oak/history/uniforms_logos.jsp |website=MLB.com|access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref> McGraw and Mack had known each other for years, and McGraw accepted it graciously. By [[1909 Major League Baseball season|1909]], the A's were wearing an elephant logo on their sweaters, and in [[1918 Major League Baseball season|1918]] it turned up on the regular uniform jersey for the first time.<ref>{{
In 1963, when the A's were located in Kansas City, then-owner [[Charlie Finley]] changed the team mascot from an elephant to a [[Charlie-O|mule]], the state animal of Missouri. This is rumored to have been done by Finley in order to appeal to fans from the region who were predominantly Democrats at the time. (The traditional [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] symbol is an [[Republican Party (United States)#Name and symbols|elephant]], while the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s symbol is a [[Democratic Party (United States)#Name and symbols|donkey]].)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/oakland-athletics-kansas-city-throwbacks-green-gold-uniforms-charlie-o-missouri-mule/1x8d8mnwo4gmq1t6oyiw1rzqxi|title=The A's celebrate KC roots with green and gold uniforms — and a mule named Charlie O|website=www.sportingnews.com|date=June 25, 2015 |language=en|access-date=
==Uniforms==
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The nickname "A's" has long been used interchangeably with "Athletics", dating to the team's early days when headline writers used it to shorten the name. From 1972 through 1980, the team name was officially "Oakland A's", although the [[Commissioner's Trophy (MLB)|Commissioner's Trophy]], given out annually to the winner of baseball's [[World Series]], still listed the team's name as the "Oakland Athletics" on the gold-plated pennant representing the Oakland franchise. According to Bill Libby's Book, ''Charlie O and the Angry A's'', owner Charlie O. Finley banned the word "Athletics" from the club's name because he felt that name was too closely associated with former Philadelphia Athletics owner Connie Mack, and he wanted the name "Oakland A's" to become just as closely associated with him. The name also vaguely suggested the name of the old minor league [[Oakland Oaks (PCL)|Oakland Oaks]], which were alternatively called the "Acorns". New owner Walter Haas restored the official name to "Athletics" in 1981, but retained the nickname "A's" for marketing. At first, the word "Athletics" was restored only to the club's logo, underneath the much larger stylized-"A" that had come to represent the team since the early days. By 1987, however, the word returned, in script lettering, to the front of the team's jerseys.
From 2025 to 2027, while the team temporarily plays its home games in West Sacramento, all of its uniforms would feature the "Athletics" wordmark.
Prior to the mid-2010s, the A's had a long-standing tradition of wearing white cleats team-wide (in line with the standard MLB practice that required all uniformed team members to wear a base cleat color), which dated to the Finley ownership. Since the mid-2010s, however, MLB has gradually relaxed its shoe color rules, and several A's players began wearing cleats in non-white colors, such as [[Jed Lowrie]]'s green cleats.
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==Ballpark history and future==
The [[Oakland Coliseum]]—originally the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, and later named as Network Associates, [[McAfee]], [[Overstock.com]]/O.co and [[RingCentral]] Coliseum—was built as a multi-purpose facility. [[Louisiana Superdome]] officials pursued negotiations with Athletics officials during the 1978–79 baseball offseason about moving the Athletics to their facility in [[New Orleans]]. The Athletics were unable to break their lease at the Coliseum, and remained in Oakland.<ref>{{cite news |last=[[United Press International]] |title=Yankees, Twins still dickering |url=https://
After the [[Las Vegas Raiders|Oakland Raiders]] football team moved to Los Angeles in 1982, many improvements were made to what was suddenly a baseball-only facility. The 1994 movie ''[[Angels in the Outfield (1994 film)|Angels in the Outfield]]'' was filmed in part at the Coliseum, filling in for [[Angel Stadium|Anaheim Stadium]].
[[File:1984 Mother's Cookies - Oakland Coliseum.JPG|thumb|right|250px|The Coliseum in its original configuration before being enclosed]]
In 1995, the Raiders moved back to Oakland. The Coliseum was expanded to 63,026 seats. The bucolic view of the Oakland foothills that baseball spectators enjoyed was replaced with a jarring view of an outfield grandstand contemptuously referred to as "[[Mount Davis (Oakland)|Mount Davis]]" after Raiders' owner [[Al Davis]]. Because construction was not finished by the start of the {{mlby|1996}} season, the Athletics were forced to play their first six-game homestand at 9,300-seat [[Cashman Field]] in [[Las Vegas, Nevada]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/ballpark/page.jsp?ymd=20051103&content_id=32744&vkey=ballpark_t400&fext=.jsp&sid=t400 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422000201/http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/ballpark/page.jsp?ymd=20051103&content_id=32744&vkey=ballpark_t400&fext=.jsp&sid=t400 |url-status=
Although official capacity was listed as 43,662 for baseball, seats were sometimes sold in Mount Davis, pushing actual capacity to nearly 60,000. The ready availability of tickets on game day made season tickets a tough sell, while crowds as high as 30,000 often seemed sparse in such a venue. On December 21, 2005, the Athletics announced that seats in the Coliseum's third deck would not be sold for the 2006 season, but would instead be covered with a tarp, and that tickets would no longer be sold in Mount Davis under any circumstances. That effectively reduced capacity to 34,077, making the Coliseum the lowest-capacity stadium in Major League Baseball. Beginning in 2008, sections 316–318 immediately behind home plate were the only third-deck sections open for A's games, which brought the total capacity to 35,067 until 2017, when new team president [[Dave Kaval]] took the tarps off of the upper deck, increasing capacity to 47,170. The Athletics were the last MLB team to share a stadium full-time with an NFL team, a situation that ended when the Raiders [[Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas|moved]] to Las Vegas in 2020.
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[[File:Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in 2023.png|thumb|right|250px|[[Oakland Coliseum]], the 5th oldest MLB stadium]]
==== New areas ====
In 2017, the team created an outdoor plaza in the space between the Coliseum and Oracle Arena. The grassy area is open to all ticketed fans, and it features food trucks, seating and games like [[corn hole]] for every Athletics home game.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.mlb.com/athletics/ballpark/championship-plaza/| title = Championship Plaza {{!}} Oakland Athletics| website = [[MLB.com]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/projects/2021/athletics-coliseum-history/ |title=Oakland Coliseum timeline: 50 years of triumph and heartbreak at A's stadium |work=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=July 19, 2021 |access-date=January 13, 2022 }}</ref> The following year, the team introduced The Treehouse, a {{convert|10000|sqft|adj=on}} area open to all fans with two full-service bars, standing-room and lounge seating, numerous televisions with pre-game and postgame entertainment. The A's Stomping Ground transformed part of the Eastside Club and the area near the right-field flag poles into a fun and interactive space for kids and families. The inside section features a stage and video wall for interactive events, a digital experience that lets youngsters race their favorite Athletics players, replica team dugouts, a simulated hitting and pitching machine, foosball, and a photo booth. The outside area includes play areas, a grassy seating area, drink rails for parents, and picnic tables, a miniature baseball field and spiderweb play area.<ref>{{
==== Premium spaces ====
The team added three new premium spaces, including The Terrace, Lounge Seats, and the Coppola Theater Boxes, to the Coliseum for the 2019 season. The new premium seating options offer fans a high-end game-day experience with luxury amenities. The team also added two new group spaces – the Budweiser Hero Deck and Golden Road Landing – to the Coliseum.<ref>{{
==== Other additions ====
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{{Main|Oakland Ballpark}}
Since the early 2000s, the A's have been in talks with Oakland and other [[Northern California]] cities about building a new baseball-only stadium. The team had said it wanted to remain in Oakland. A 2017 plan would have placed a new 35,000 seat A's stadium near [[Laney College]] and the Eastlake neighborhood on the site of the Peralta Community College District's administration buildings. The plan was announced by team president [[Dave Kaval]] in September 2017.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 13, 2017 |title=A's want to build new ballpark next to Laney College in Oakland |newspaper=Sfgate |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/A-s-want-to-build-new-ballpark-next-to-Laney-12193239.php |last1=Ross |first1=By Matier &. }}</ref> However, three months later, negotiations abruptly ended.<ref>{{cite news |date=December 6, 2017 |title=Proposed site for A's ballpark falls through |work=USA Today |agency=AP |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2017/12/06/proposed-site-for-as-ballpark-falls-through/108372952/}}</ref> On November 28, 2018, the Athletics announced that the team had chosen to build its new 34,000-seat ballpark at the Howard Terminal site at the [[Port of Oakland]]. The team also announced its intent to purchase the Coliseum site and renovate it into a tech and housing hub, preserving [[Oakland Arena]] and reducing the Coliseum to a low-rise sports park as San Francisco did with [[Kezar Stadium]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 28, 2018 |title=A's settle on a ballpark site and a futuristic stadium |language=en-US |work=[[The Mercury News]] |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/28/report-as-settle-on-a-ballpark-site-and-a-futuristic-stadium/ |access-date=November 28, 2018}}</ref> In April 2023, the City of Oakland ended discussions with the Athletics organization after the announcement of a new ballpark in Las Vegas, amid widespread claims that the team was not negotiating in good faith and was using the proposed site in Oakland to leverage a better deal in Las Vegas instead of any real intention to stay within the city.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Uebelacker |first=Erik |date=June 7, 2023
====Fremont====
On November 7, 2006, the news media announced the Athletics would be leaving Oakland as early as 2010 for a new stadium in Fremont, confirmed the next day by the Fremont City Council. The plan was strongly supported by Fremont Mayor [[Bob Wasserman]].<ref name=argus>{{cite news|first=Rob |last=Dennis |title=Fremont mayor Bob Wasserman dead at 77 |url=http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_19641994 |work=[[The Argus (Fremont)]] |date=December 30, 2011 |access-date=January 21, 2012}}</ref> The team would have played in [[Cisco Field]], a 32,000-seat, baseball-only facility.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/athletics/2006-11-09-athletics-fremont-ballpark_x.htm | work=USA Today | title=A's, Cisco reach ballpark deal | date=November 9, 2006 | access-date=May 20, 2010}}</ref> The proposed ballpark would have been part of a larger "ballpark village" which would have included retail and residential development. On February 24, 2009, however, Lew Wolff released an open letter announcing the end of his efforts to relocate the A's to Fremont, citing "real and threatened" delays to the project.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/02/23/daily33.html | title=Full text of A's letter to Fremont | date=February 24, 2009}}</ref> The project faced opposition from some in the community who thought the relocation of the A's to Fremont would increase traffic problems in the city and decrease property values near the ballpark site.
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== Planned relocation to Las Vegas ==
{{main|New Las Vegas Stadium|Oakland Athletics relocation to Las Vegas}}
On November 16, 2023, the Athletics' move to Las Vegas was unanimously approved by MLB team owners.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Farkas |first=Brady |date=
On May 23, the city of Oakland officially announced its plan to sell its one-half share in the existing 155-acre Oakland Coliseum complex for a minimum of $105 million to the African American Sports & Entertainment Group, whose plans for the site include residential and commercial uses.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-23 |title=Oakland to Sell A's Stadium as Major League Baseball Team Exits for Las Vegas |url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oakland-sell-stadium-major-league-123206007.html |access-date=2024-05-24 |website=Yahoo Finance |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Rivalries==
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{{See also|List of Major League Baseball retired numbers}}
The Athletics have retired six numbers; additionally,
{{retired number list|
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The Athletics have all of the numbers of the Hall-of-Fame players from the Philadelphia Athletics displayed at their stadium, as well as all of the years that the Philadelphia Athletics won World Championships (1910, 1911, 1913, 1929, and 1930).
Also, from 1978 to 2003 (except 1983), the [[Philadelphia Phillies]] inducted one former Athletic (and one former Phillie) each year into the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame at the then-existing [[Veterans Stadium]]. 25 Athletics have been honored. In March 2004, after Veterans Stadium was replaced by the new [[Citizens Bank Park]], the Athletics' plaques were relocated to the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society in [[Hatboro, Pennsylvania]],<ref>For photos of the A's Wall of Fame plaques, see [http://philadelphiaathletics.org/museum.html Philadelphia A's Society Museum and Library] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051229220635/http://philadelphiaathletics.org/museum.html |date=December 29, 2005 }} webpage. Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society. Retrieved September 23, 2010.</ref><ref>[http://philadelphiaathletics.org/index.html Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100927224059/http://philadelphiaathletics.org/index.html |date=September 27, 2010 }} official website. Retrieved September 23, 2010.</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Frank|last=Fitzpatrick|title=Demographics may doom the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society|date=February 22, 2011|work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20110222_Demographics_may_doom_the_Philadelphia_Athletics_Historical_Society.html|access-date=February 23, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110226071546/http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20110222_Demographics_may_doom_the_Philadelphia_Athletics_Historical_Society.html|archive-date=February 26, 2011|url-status=
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